Highlighting issues and events, both current and historical, of the Irish Republican struggle.

Saturday, September 17, 2005

We Shall Not be Challenged

We Shall Not Be Challenged

Nationalists in the north are once again feeling theheat, caught between two states - Jim Gibney

Anthony McIntyre - 14 September 2005

Déjá vu was the dominant emotion experienced byBrendan 'Shando' Shannon as he stood on theSpringfield Road on Saturday. He had made the shorttrip there from his home to do what he does everyyear. 'I have been coming here along with a smallnumber of others from long before it was trendy to doso in opposition to bigots marching.' The first timehe had went there to 'defend the area' was as a boy ofthirteen. In 1969 virulent loyalists, tails up, werecoming down Mayo Street intent on doing what they dobest, visiting their violent sectarian hatred oninnocent Catholics. Accompanied by men much older,Shando took his place among the ranks of thedefenders.

Although he hailed from republican stock there waslittle at thirteen that could have prepared him forwhat lay ahead. He had no way of knowing that his actof defenderism would hurl him into the deep end of aprotracted conflict that still goes on in pervertedform despite the peace process, in fact maybe goes onbecause of it.

Shando's memory of the events of 1969 is hazy. But hedoes recall that when the community were crying outfor defence, the traditional defenders of the IRAfailed to step up to the mark. Despite a deterioratingpolitical climate, which had for long been pregnantwith malign potential for sectarian conflagration, fewpreparations for defence had been put in place. On theday it was improvisation. Whatever weapons the IRAclaimed nominal ownership over in its arsenal, theywere not to be found on the streets of Belfast in1969. The story has it they were in Wales. The IRAhad, in the view of many nationalists, run away.'Place your trust in the police,' was all the IRAleadership could offer. Not a bad idea if the state isa modern democratic entity where it may be compelledto stand up for its citizens even if it would rathernot. But this was the view of the Northern Irelandstate least likely to have been found within therepublican mindset of the time.

Last Saturday Shando hurried to the Springfield Roadwhere it was anticipated there would be troubleresulting from attempts by Orange marchers to walkover the local residents. His concerns wereexacerbated by reports that loyalists from Sandy Rowwere trying to attack nationalist homes in theGrosvenor Road. When a Sinn Féin MLA stepped onto aboulder on the Springfield Road to address the crowd,Shando couldn't believe his ears. Here was a man withwell-established Provisional credentials telling hisconstituents that the loyalists were preparing tothrow blast bombs, and his advice: move back and letthe police deal with the situation. It was 1969 andbigots goosestepping all over again. Same spot, samespeech, different person. Shando challenged the SinnFein man, asking was it not imperative on republicansto defend the area themselves rather than place theirfaith in the police force. In his words, 'Let thepolice deal with it? We should be fighting thesepeople ourselves. It is what we did in 69.'

From his perspective it made sense. After all, SinnFéin had been vigorously criticising the PSNI forfailing to tackle loyalists in North Antrim with thesame ardour reserved for nationalists. 'After all theyears of hard gained experience we were being asked toaccept that the sons and grandsons of the B-Specialswho burned the Falls in 1969 would somehow protect us.The Sinn Fein speaker is a great guy and I have a lotof time for him but on this one he is plain wrong.'

Hardly had Shando spoken up when fascistic voicesbarked at him. Three senior Provisional IRA membersapproached him. One was more disagreeable thanthreatening. Not a shrinking violet himself, Shandocould live with that. A verbal tirade was heaped uponhim by one of the other two. Lacking the SS runes butnot the attitude, he demanded that Shando 'shut up.'Having failed to intimidate him, the Provisionalleader 'told me he would bury me. His colleague leanedover and said, ''leave it for now. We will do himlater''.'

Their faces were distorted with sheer hatred andthey had the look of the deranged. All because I hadmildly disagreed with their speaker. They told me Iwas a yellow bastard. This was a reference to the timethat they had kidnapped me, trussed me up, hooded me,forced me to piss in a bucket back in the 1990sbecause I had opposed them. I buckled when they hadme. It was not one of my braver moments. I had facedthe Brits, cops and screws, burned the Kesh, escapedfrom it and did the blanket. Now I was facing theauthority of the IRA. The only authority I had everaccepted as legitimate. I was unable topsychologically face it down. It is a bit like a childtrying to hit its own mother. It is virtuallyimpossible to do. I have since rid myself of thoseillusions. I never buckled to the Sticks. For thatreason I didn't buckle on Saturday when theythreatened me. They are just Sticks and I amdetermined that no Stick will tell a republican thathe will not raise his voice against them in WestBelfast. We have a strong tradition here of notbuckling to the Sticks. It is a tradition I fullyintend to keep with.

I was at a conference in England when Shando'sagitated phone call came though. He outlined what hadhappened. I sought to calm him down. He was adamantthat he had received a death threat. Maybe so, but itseemed highly unlikely that the Provisional IRA wouldkill him, and certainly not for something as minor asheckling one of their elected representatives. Thatmight get him pistol whipped. Taking his life wouldhardly carry well in the community when, like theOfficial Republican Movement they had so virulentlycondemned, they had stood with their arms the onelength in the face of certain loyalist onslaught. Heput an eyewitness on the phone. In much more measuredterms and in considerable detail the witness took methough the events. I pressed him to get a measure ofhow convinced he was that the threat amounted to adeath one rather than people venting anger in a heatof the moment situation. Like Shando, he too was ofthe mind that the threat should be taken seriouslygiven the seniority of the people involved and the useof the word 'bury.'

I mulled it over in my mind pondering the value ofpursuing it. It was a threat which in all likelihoodwould never amount to anything more serious. At thesame time, the Provisional IRA was supposed to havepacked its business up with its July statement, yetits most senior members were openly threatening arepublican in front of witnesses. Joseph Rafferty inDublin had been threatened and failed to take thethreat seriously. He now lies dead having been blastedto death by someone most in the media world believe tobe a member of Sinn Féin's militia.

I rang Shando back and asked him if he wanted me toraise his concerns at the conference I would beattending later in the evening. I explained that manyfrom the political and media world would be presentand the sheer act of mentioning it in front of perhaps200 people should suffice to stay the hand of thosewho had issued the threat. He agreed. I followedthrough on my offer and told those present thatrepublicans under threat from the violence of thepeace process often came to the Blanket to raise theirconcerns. They would never go to the PSNI. When I hadfinished detailing Shando's experience I quicklyrealised that many people there were interested in thethreat made on the Springfield Road that afternoon.Their offers to raise the matter in a range ofquarters meant that Shando would not 'go down a hole'as easily as some of his victimisers might wish.

Shando says he is determined to face his critics. Heargues that he has as much experience at the coalfaceas they and resents their efforts to promotethemselves as some form of republican elite.

I will publicly debate with these people any timeor place, so long as I am not tied to a chair. I havedone as much for the IRA as they have. People on thisroad know my record. One difference is that I neversent kids out to do it. I did it myself. Have thesebullies the bottle to face me in public debate on thisquestion or are they afraid of the red face syndrome?I am determined that the bullyboy tactics will stop.My kids had the meat taken off their plates in orderthat we could feed good IRA men when they had to lielow. Now one of my daughters is barred from a varietyof pubs for no reason other than she is my daughter.Barred by a man who is universally known throughoutthe republican world for not having done an operationin his entire life. Even the media slag him off andhave their own special name for him.

Shando has since penned a letter to his MP GerryAdams. In it he has named two men who were to the forein Saturday's incident. 'It is up to Mr Adams topursue the matter after that. He can hardly pretendthe people involved are not in the Provisional IRA. Hehas known both of them for decades. Is he now going toexpel them on the grounds that thugs have no place inhis movement?'

Shando remains steeped in the cultural world thatshaped him throughout his life. It seems he will takeit to the grave with him. Remarkably, his view of theproblem has not shifted over thirty odd years.

The central problem in this state is that whilethe British continue to run it, the government willalways fail to protect its Catholics. Republican gunsshould not be immersed in concrete while this threatexists. The only lesson that the people threatening melearned from the Sticks in 1969 was that being Stickswas something to aspire to. In that they havesurpassed the Sticks. Women were shouting at the thugshassling me on Saturday that the Sticks neverdecommissioned their guns. It is an amazing situationwhere we have the Orangemen marching down the road andthe only person these thugs on our side could threatenwas a republican.

Shando may feel justified in publicly challenging theSinn Féin MLA. But in all fairness to the MLA, he hada responsibility to his constituents to move them outof harm's way and not have them exposed to the dangerof blast bombs just to maintain faith with somesectional ideological interest. While it jars withShando's republican instincts the MLA's suggestionthat the police handle the matter was most likely theone guaranteed to minimise casualties. In this senseSinn Féin's action was hardly inconsistent with tryingto address such issues democratically.

The major contradiction of course is the Janus face ofthe Provisional movement. While Sinn Féin was waxingdemocratic its militia friends were quite prepared toresort to fascistic tactics. Rather than seek topersuade Brendan Shannon that his alternative to theparty's suggestion may have left the nationalistsexposed to unnecessary risk, they sought in theirtime-honoured fashion to intimidate him. Their selfserving right wing nationalism, no longer able to ventitself on the traditional enemy, is perpetuallyseeking to recast itself in the search for newopponents. Having lost the war to the enemy without,the militia men seem determined to create an enemywithin so that they might continue to justify theirown existence. People within long sufferingnationalist communities are growing tired of it andincreasingly display a diminution in respect foryesterday's men. The war is over and it has been lost.Endlessly pretending that there is somehow a currentneed for career commanders merely devalues the effortexpended in the days when military commanders had somefunction other than lording it over their neighbours.